


Collaborative Education

by etoilesdeglace



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Professors, F/M, Fitzsimmons Secret Valentine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 23:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3358826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilesdeglace/pseuds/etoilesdeglace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the Fitzsimmons Valentine's Exchange.</p><p>Professor Leopold Fitz has never worked well with any of the other staff members. That changes when he meets Professor Jemma Simmons late one night and offers to make her tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Collaborative Education

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quibbler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quibbler/gifts).



> My valentine: [ quibbler!](http://quibbler.tumblr.com)
> 
> Prompt: EITHER both work at disney world AU OR a librarian/teacher au of some sort.
> 
> I also made a gif-set for this gift [here](http://etoilesdeglace.tumblr.com/post/111044230075/collaborative-education-professor-leopold-fitz-has).
> 
> Hope you like it! This is the first thing I've ever posted so let me know what you think!

After a long day of lectures and labs Professor Leo Fitz finally has some time to breathe.

He puts the kettle on to boil before collapsing into the chair behind the bench in his lab. Without much thought he starts to tinker away with the nearby nuts and bolts scattered across his bench. He can't think about what his hands are doing too much because his brain is running along a completely different train of thought.

Now that he's alone he can't stop thinking about the lecture on his drones that he's set to present in a week's time. He's unusually nervous for this lecture because while he's always excited to share his work with his students every year, he is almost scared of their response. He knows that the technology in the drones is fantastic - with each one capable of different skills - but still. He's opening up his work to some of the brightest minds in the world for criticism and the usually over-confident Scot is nervous.

It is for that reason that his late-night-early-morning prep sessions have become part of his weekly schedule as of late. As the date of his lecture approached, he finds himself in the lab at more and more ungodly hours of the morning more often than not.

Tonight will be one of those nights.

He's not wrong. It's after 2:00am when he calls it a night.

He shuts off the light and makes his way towards the front entrance of the Science and Technology building before an all too familiar sound distracts him. The soothing melody is coming from the Biochemistry wing and he wonders which students he'll find in the lab after-hours this time as he makes his way through the crisp white hallways towards the sound.

Instead he finds Professor Jemma Simmons, slumped over her bench, head resting on her forearm with papers scattered across the surface around her.

He knocks on the door quietly. "Professor Simmons?"

At the sound of his voice she shoots upright, flustered and seemingly embarrassed. "Um wha- Hello Professor.... Fitz right?" she manages to get out as she reaches across the table to turn off the Harry Potter soundtrack playing from her CD player.

"Please call me Fitz."

She nods and responds after a moment's delay, as if she'd forgotten what she was going to say "Simmons."

"What keeps you here at such late hours?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"Yeah but I asked first."

"I'm working on my lecture on alien diseases and how to handle them. How about you."

"Wow they are really throwing you into the thick of everything with this being your first semester and all."

"I guess that's what happens when a teenage prodigy joins the staff. I'm sure they did the same with you."

"I guess but my first lecture on my own work wasn't until my second semester. Clearly you're more capable than I."

"Well I've heard that your Mousetrap presentation is one of the best of all time."

"Yeah trying to top that isn't easy, hence why I'm here so late, I have a lecture on my drones coming up and I want to make sure everything's perfect you know."

"Yeah I understand." she says as she yawns and stretches herself out in an attempt to wake her body up.

"You look like you might need some tea."

Her eyes meet his and he can see a soft light coming from within them. She smiles.

"If you have some that'd be wonderful."

"Wouldn't have offered if I didn't have any. I'll go grab the stuff from my lab, be back in 10."

"Fitz! No food in the lab."

"Oh right, must be horrible to work in Biochem" he shutters dramatically "Alright meet you in the staff room in 10."

"Deal."

-

She sighs as she sets down the serum that she’s been processing for the last six hours and she notices how badly her hands are shaking.

She knows the biology behind the reaction but she still wishes it would stop. The reaction has always been her primary sign of nerves, and she hates it. It’s physical, a reaction that others can see and identify. A racing mind she can handle, can break down the biochemical reactions in her brain, justify it to herself, and calm herself down - all without giving external visual cues. Shaking hands however, she can’t change. She generally just sticks her hands in her pockets and carries on her way but she’s agreed to meet Professor Fitz - Fitz - for tea.

As she heads towards the break room she breathes deeply into the pit of her stomach and makes a plan in her head. Go in here, pick up the mug only when necessary to drink, keep conversation flowing and hands out of view. It seems like a silly thing to do - he’s a professor too, he knows the stress that comes with presenting your ideas and opening yourself up to criticism. He’s even working on his lecture right now, or he was, before he found her in the lab. But still, she’s new to this institution and wants to make a good impression, especially to the only other professor in their 20’s in this place.

Peering through the glass pane in the door she can see him plugging in the tea kettle. She takes a deep breath and goes inside.

At the sound of the door opening he looks over his shoulder towards her and smiles. ‘Simmons, just in time.”

“Perfect” she returns a smile.

“It’ll be a few minutes till the water is boiled and then I’ll have to steep it and then we should-” he rambles on.

“- let it cool.” she breaks in and smiles at the stunned expression that crosses his face for a split second, “I know how to make tea Fitz.”

“Right. Yeah. It’s just most people around here don’t, or at least don’t know how to make it properly.”

“Can’t really expect much more can we.” she responds as he makes his way over to lean on the counter across from her and picks up the piece of his work that he’d left there.

“What’s that?”

“Hmm?” he mutters while continuing to fiddle with the small piece of tech in his hands, suddenly seemingly shy and closed off.

“Your project? Your lecture?” she urges, “What’s it on?”

He looks at her with such skepticism that she can’t help but scoff and raise an eyebrow at him. “Try me.”

Before she knows it, he’s launched into a full out explication of his project; the mechanics behind it, where it would be used, how he get his inspiration and how he’s reached the point he’s at now.

Then he starts to explain the setbacks he’s faced and how he’s overcome them. Some of what he’s relating is complete gibberish to her but for the most part she understands, only needing to interrupt once or twice to clarify. However, his problem with the power source for the drones spikes her interest and she cuts him off.

“Hold on one second Fitz, what about using an electrochemical cell with a lithium half cell and..."

As she explains her idea she watches his face shift from questioning to comprehension and to something else that she can’t quite place and finally to wonder.

"Wow… that’s incredible.” he says in amazement.

“I try.” she smiles and ducks her head in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks.

He taps her shoulder and draws back her attention, “No really, that’s genius.”

She smiles back.

-

It’s at that moment that the tea kettle goes off and it is as if a light bulb has gone off in her head and she rushes out of the room with a “One second, I’ll be right back.” - leaving him with his thoughts.

He can't believe that after just a brief explanation of his project she develops an idea that solves one of his biggest problems. It took him a week to figure out how to fix the problem but her concept is so much simpler.

She comes whirling back into the break room with an armful of paperwork and random chemicals and pieces of equipment. "Here try this."

She picks up the lithium jar and demonstrates the idea for him as he prepares their tea.

When she's done they stand against the counter with their tea admiring her work.

The concept is brilliant but so is he and he's already walking through how he would go about miniaturizing the idea.

"What do you think."

"I'm thinking that we could miniaturize..."

She smiles as he explains his idea.

They spend the whole night together working on both of their projects.

-

That night in the break room was the start of something incredible.

When Professor Fitz was giving his lecture he explained how she came up with the solution to his power problem. When she was giving hers, she called him up to the front to explain how the complicated delivery mechanism functioned.

After that President Coulson assigned them projects and lectures together. They started off as extracurricular lectures and then they became more and more frequent, and more popular - with the entire grand hall full of interested students.

The next semester they are assigned a Biochemical Engineering course as a pair. It’s something new and nerve-wracking for them both and he notices the way that her hands are shaking slightly when they find out.

-

He kisses her when they are making their first lesson plan. She smiles up at him, wraps her arms around him and snuggling into his chest.

“Simmons?”

“Fitz.”

“I’m sorry that was weird, I’m sor-”

“Fitz. It’s okay. I would've done it sooner or later.”

He smiles and rests his chin on the top of her head.

-

Their students definitely don't see anything between them.

They don't notice how both Professor Fitz's and Professor Simmons' labs are reassigned as student labs. Or how they now share a large lab on the 3rd floor. The name tag on the the door reads Fitzsimmons but that doesn't tip anybody off.

They don't notice the way she looks at him with wide eyes and a bright smile as he explains the latest development in their work or how they always smile at each other in the halls. They don't smirk whenever his hands brush against hers as when they're at the stand or when her cheeks go slightly red when he whispers something in her ear. And they definitely don't notice how they pull up in the same car in the morning and usually end up staying late in their lab.

Nope, they've got their students completely fooled.


End file.
